'n' 'f I had time to listen I'd 'a' been bound to hear, but to my certain knowledge he never said one word o' family 'xcept to remark over 'n' over 's he thanked the Lord Almighty 's he had n't got none, which words I naturally took 's signifyin' 's he was speakin' the truth. Still a man is a man, 'n' this letter proves 's you can't even be sure o' one 's has been in bed under your own eye f'r twenty years, f'r it not only shows 's he did have a relation, but it shows suthin' else too; it shows me, 's has had four men all tryin' to marry me inside o' the same week, 't suthin' pretty close to love-makin' 'd passed between her 's wrote this letter 'n' him 's kept it carefully hid away till long after he was dead. There's a shakiness about the writin' 'n' a down-hilledness about the lines 's lets me right into the secret o' their hearts, 'n' I'm willin' to venture a guess 't Cousin Marion c'd get money out o' father with less pain 'n mother could, under which circumstances I don't blame mother for closin' down on the subjeck. 

 "The more I consider that letter up 'n' down 'n' hind end to, Mrs. Lathrop, the plainer I see 's Cousin Marion must 'a' been a sore 'n' abidin' thorn inside o' father 'n' mother. Perhaps it was that as give him the paralysis! The doctor said 's it was suthin' obscure, 'n' 'f suthin' 's ain't found out till years after you 're dead ain't obscure I don't know what is. Anyway I 've took my stand 'n' it was the only sensible one to take. This 's the first chance I 've ever had in all my life to get a nice change without payin' board, 'n' so I jus' sat right down 'n' wrote to Cousin Marion 't 'f it was convenient to her I 'd come to Knoxville 'n' spend next Sunday. She 's bound to be pleased 't bein' remembered after fifty years, 'n' I 've got father's nose, 'n' that 'll help some, o' course. She can't be worse 'n dead, 'n' 'f she's dead 'n' don't answer I sha'n't never give the subjeck another thought, f'r I naturally ain't got very fond o' her jus' from findin' her musty old letter stuck in behind the flap of a trunk 's I 've been achin' to hack to pieces these last twenty years. I never went up in my garret without I skinned myself somewhere on that trunk, 'n' you know how often I go up garret, Mrs. Lathrop, so it goes without sayin' 's I 've been considerably skinned first 'n' last. But 'f she sh'd be alive 'n' I sh'd get to go there, the Lord knows I certainly shall rejoice to have some o' my own to talk to, f'r blood is thicker 'n water, 'n' although I don't want to hurt your feelin's, Mrs. Lathrop, still you can't in conscience deny 's you ain't no conversationalist. Nobody is that I know hereabouts, neither. The minister talks some, but I 'm always thinkin' how much more I want to 

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